UKC

I had to check the date there!

We're not trolling you.

Hexes better than cams! Proof at last yea nay sayers.

Looks ace, how deep is the water?

There's a very similar crack under the A55 in North Wales if anyone's interested, it's just outside Tal-Y-Bont, Bangor where the A55 crosses the River Ogwen.....

Now you need to get a true lead putting in the gear. Not a pink point

Not sure he's got enough gear in there. Better place a few more hexes to be safe. Also, does it still count as an ascent if you drop off a few metres from the end of the feature?

I'm intrigued as to how hexes can work and cams don't.

He explains that the crack is flared upwards, ie it gets wider inside.

E

OK, well protected, but  ... that long and that angle and 6b ... and only E5? 

Not very (but you wouldnt want to fall in. One of the other lads having a bash at it dropped a clip and ended up going for a dunk, he walked out rather wet and slightly bedraggled.

The cams were popping out under body weight as the concrete was so smooth. The hexes could be placed by putting them in narrow-ways, pushing them up in the crack and then rotating them on your finger tips to be wide-ways in the crack. Pretty bomber once you got them in.

Time to go wandering around Edinburgh to look for other routes! Might be a disgusting off-width further up the canal but only if you can't get your fingers over the top of the concrete beams.

Seems like wired hexes would make placements a lot easier and then if placing on lead you could slide them along a bit as you went!

Yeah wired hexes would have made it a lot easier to place I think.

I know the one youre on about! But it would be far too easy to get fingers over the lip (its just about doable with this crack). The bridge beside it looks like it might have a "fun" finger crack, but could be logistically a bit more challenging (much higher, need to reverse the climb as well)

Anyway I could barely do one move on this one so I'm in no real place to be looking for anything harder!

Approximately one Peugeot 406: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11790895

I’m game! Down in wales Friday haha 

He said maybe 5:10d at first 

E

This triggered a very distant memory of the Parking Lot Crack some dudes were working in LA? in the 70s. There was a little photo in Mountain mag I believe.

I can imagine ambitious climbers everywhere are out staring at the underside of road bridges....! Only thing likely to get done in this weather...

Very "of the moment" after Ondra's Road Bridge Arete video.

Cool! looks fun Robbie, nice find.

I remember once watching two guys climbing the Blondin cable in the Dinorwig quarries; they had got almost as far as the cradle that's stuck about 2/3 up and they looked absolutely shattered; I wondered how they planned to get past the cradle, which doesn't seem to be held in place by anything other than rust.  They may still be hanging there for all I know.

That was Randy Leavitt  and Tony Yaniro.

Edit: see e.g. https://www.instagram.com/p/BVFY9Hnj51S/?hl=en

I seem to remember rumours (years back) of Portland climbers attempting to climb a similar, but longer,  crack under the road bridge in Weymouth (over Radipole lake) using custom-made T-shaped ironwork.

I have cycled under that bridge to work for 20 years. I should have looked up but I was too busy trying to avoid cycling into the canal. 

Although climbing on bridges is nothing new (been doing it for years on my local viaduct), maybe BoJo,s` proposed plan to build bridges around Britain could also incorporate proper features for climbing on. Then Rockfax could bring out a guide to Britain's Best Bridges or the like.

Even better: that Mountain Magazine article in full ... : http://www.widefetish.com/pages/how_to.html#leavittation

Would it be a viable DWS when it gets warmer ? 

If the 'W' stands for 'Weil's Disease', then yes.

Lol

Well done. Thanks a million for the article Rob. It blew my mind a long time ago, so good to revisit.

Mountain was so amazing at showcasing the US climbing scene back then.

That canal is stagnant and only about waist deep. Wouldn't want to go into it spine first if at all possible... I'm sure I'm saw Tom Randall suggest a dingy with a pad in it on Instagram though..

"Duck Crack" - Mike Robertson and Mark Williams! 1992/3?

Can't remember the grade however.

There appear to be other cracks parallel to the one climbed. Presumably not as nice a crack size or not protectable?

Also, surely this crack is appropriate for a SWS.

Weils away the time.

Similar but longer (I’d guess) crack under the A55 road bridge over the River Dee south of Chester if anybody fancies it. Looks good hands width. 

How long before someone wants to bolt it to make it more accessible?...

Let's bolt it and make it more accessible

Almost forty years ago two now well known climbers started bolting the underside of a highways bridge.

They ended up in court .

With two old bike frames and a shopping trolley

That stretch of the canal is in one of the nicer parts of town. I think it was all dredged a few years ago. However having seen it the last time they drained it I’d still not fancy falling in!

Drilling into precast beams with prestressed tendons possibly present isn't a good plan.

If you damage a tendon the bill for fixing that kinda thing could be very large!

The A74(m) has a long roof crack at junction 16, looks like hands from the ground, but its so high it could be wider?

you can see it on streetview

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.2193148,-3.4128564,3a,75y,64.91h,179t/dat...

This is bloody brilliant! Such a fun video. And a great advert for crack gloves...

This is fantastic, really great stuff!

Went back for a look at this today, I first looked at its potential about 25 years ago and thought it looked amazing. Looking at it today, if it is climbable it would be a very significant achievement. It's probably multi pitch and the crack looks like it's quite thin (finger / hand jamming kind of width rather than fist jamming). It would definitely be doable as an aid route, but maybe too big a challenge to be free climbed? The route starts up a crimpy slate arete which is all I'd be able to climb myself...

Definitely a project for someone!

HELCH

I've seen at least one or two similar looking bridge cracks over the Birmingham canals if anyone fancies the challenge! Can't remember exactly which bridges but looked to be hand jam sized like the one in the OP

Oh but I do like a bit of daftness now and again. It's a whole new genre!

Pretty sure one of them is under the bridge by 5 ways train station.